LANSING, Mich. — The son of a World War II veteran discovers his dad left some explosive keepsakes behind.
He found no one, but two live grenades while going through his father's belongings.
At first glance, the two canisters looked like bins, but they ended up being military shipping containers. Upon looking inside, a man in Hamlin Township discovered what looked to be a grenade.
"When he opened them up, he was concerned and thought it doesn't look right," said Tom Reich, Eaton County Sheriff.
The man had good instincts.
Authorities were called to the storage unit in Hamlin Township just before noon on Sunday.
"Without touching it we can determine if the grenades are live or not," said Reich. "This one was unfortunately real."
The sheriff's office called in the State Police Bomb Squad, who discovered the containers had both a live hand grenade and a smoke grenade.
"They will take care of those items very carefully and put them in a locked container which dissipates any fragments if it were to go off."
The sheriff's office said these discoveries aren't common, but do come up from time to time.
"There are a few things that were brought back from WWII, and I'm sure they're were still things out there," said Reich.
Sheriff Reich said deputies often have to deal with live ordnance and fakes.
"People can go online and buy fake grenades. These are also a concern because people think they are live."
He says just to call the police if you come across anything that looks suspicious.
"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's always better to be safe than sorry," said Reich.
The sheriff added that people who discover old grenades will sometimes bring them to the police station.
They'd much prefer you call 911 instead for safety's sake.
Police tell News 10 it's a bad idea to keep live ordnance as memorabilia because of the danger it could explode.
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